The Daily Background

This is what I like to see.

You remember the Shaivo debacle, right? Remember who the Republicans had trumpeting their side the loudest? Senator Bill Frist. He’s a Senator and a licensed M.D. as well. Of course he was completely wrong about Shaivo, as an autopsy later uncovered. But the point was, the Republicans had somebody out there for their side who they stuck up because of his credentials. I’ve thought that was a good strategy, even though I completely disagreed with the Republicans on that issue (and it turned out they were horribly wrong, and American opinion agrees with us on that too).

And credentials are of course one of the reasons why John Murtha is not so easily dismissed. So this is a reason why I’m encouraged by this:

Older Americans need another six months to sign up for the Medicare prescription drug benefit, a Democratic congressman, who’s also a pharmacist, said Saturday.

Berry said people eligible for the prescription benefit are confused by the various offerings, and some are even paying more for medicine now than they were before they joined the program.

“We need to extend the sign-up period by six months to give seniors more time to make sense of this benefit, and we need to eliminate the Bush administration’s prescription drug tax,” Berry said in the Democrats’ weekly radio address.

Not only are we right on this issue, but we’ve got somebody representing us who’s got those “credentials.” The Democrats should elevate Representative Berry (who’s also a senior; born in 1942) on this issue, and help him speak out. The article continues:

And many pharmacists are struggling because they haven’t been paid for drugs administered by the program, Berry said.

“I will never forget one conversation I had with a pharmacist from DeWitt, Arkansas, who had given away $60,000 in free medications in just one week because he knew his customers might die if they did not receive their refill that day. Medicare Part D is the FEMA of health care,” Berry said.

Berry knows his stuff. Elevate him on this issue, Dems. Putting him on the weekly radio address was a good start. But you can do more.

Filed under: Medicare Related, Z-TDB Blog